THE RULE OF MAN

The Rule of Man is what I refer to as the ‘big guy principal’.  From the beginning of mankind, it has always been the ‘big guy’ that rules. I’m not just referring to someone’s physical stature, but the nature of the one who rises to rule over others.  Kings, and warrior leaders will exert their physical might, or their cruelty upon those who are weaker, or peaceable.  The rule of man is always about subjugating others to their will.  When Moses received the Ten Commandments, they were intended to reveal how God expected the people to live with each other, and with Him. Under God’s law, men would live ungoverned by other men.  There was no need of the ‘big guy’ if you followed God’s laws. The basis of God’s social law was simple; if you lived with fealty toward one another, without desire to enslave one another, then you could live free of government.  

OOOPS, one problem; the carnal nature and its tendency to enslave.  

The problem for the Hebrew children was that God’s law didn’t physically change the carnal nature.   Eventually, the carnal nature twisted God’s laws, and eventually devolved into a ruling elite forcing others to live by their interpretation of the Laws. Carnal men, and women were able to take the law and enslave others to it.  Before long, you once again had a ruling religious elite who believed they were better than, and knew more than everyone else.  It is all too easy to get fat off of the desire of people to please God.  Something the Apostle Paul spoke often about even as Christianity began to take hold.  God never intended men to be governed by anyone other than Himself. Amazingly though, for a brief time in history (about 440 years), a people lived without a centralized government, or ruler telling them what to do.  This was the people of Israel before the kings. It wasn’t a perfect time, because surrounding this semi-nomadic nation of shepherds and farmers, there were developing kingdoms bent on enslavement. God himself had conquered many of the nations in miraculous interventions so that His children could grow in number. Then a problem occurred that changed everything for the Hebrews.  The commandments and laws began to be ignored.  The tribes of Israel began to try and subjugate one another, and in the process ignored the Commandments concerning their worship of their creator, and FATHER. The tabernacle, once the proud symbol of God’s presence, sat in disrepair, and its High Priest grew fat and old upon the sacrifices of the few people who still worshiped.

During the time of the ‘Judges’ the world was changing around the people of God. Human beings were beginning to fill the earth as commanded, and the Jewish people found themselves surrounded by enemies and warrior kingdoms who claimed to be ordained by their gods to enslave the world.  The Egyptians, still fearing God’s rebuke of their claim to ownership, would only help other rulers attempt to invade Israel. Tribal memories are long. The Philistines, a conglomeration of mediteranean sea peoples, set their sights on the ungoverned Hebrews because it was much easier to pick off their little cities here and there, than to attack an entire kingdom. The Hebrew people were not a nation, they were a family, and a very dysfunctional one at that.  Worse, they were no longer loyal to the ONE true God of their fathers.  The Philistines found the children of Israel to be godless, ignorant, and leaderless. Worse yet, you could get them to turn against their own people by paying bribes, or promising lucrative trade deals.  In later studies, as we look into the many places that the Apostles visited, we will do background studies into how those cultures came to be. Suffice it to say for the sake of this lesson, that idolatry abounded in the many nations which sought to destroy Israel. At the same time,  there was a remnant of people who interceded for the cause of God’s people. (Although, I’m convinced that God didn’t need to be coerced into protecting the people of His hand.)  

The law of God did not appear to be a shield from the vast armies surrounding Israel.  The ‘civilized’ world of that time had kings, pharaohs, and mighty warrior chieftains who led their city states in ever increasing attacks on their neighbors, and even kingdoms far removed from their home of origin.  Poor wicked, rebellious, Israel couldn’t even call upon their God because they’d spurned Him for the idols of their neighbors.  It is in this state, that the Israelites approach Samuel, the last Judge of Israel, and beg for a king to lead them.  The wickedness of Israel was complete.  They wanted to be like everyone around them.  Godless, and wicked. This example is being played out in modern day America.  Whenever I hear the calls for socialism, it is almost always followed by a comparison to other nations who have it.  The warnings are just as real today as they were in ancient Israel.

The Rule of Man, even good, and decent men, will be in direct opposition to God. God is always about freedom, and choice, so He allowed the Hebrews to be governed by a king.  From that point on, every civilized people would be basically the same, SLAVES!!  It doesn’t matter what form the ‘big guy’ took, the big guy would be the master, and everyone else would be their slave.  This form of ‘government’ (I use the term loosely,) would be the pattern for mankind for thousands of years until a small group of Christian men, and women rose up against tyranny and created an amazing thing called a republic!!  Up and until the birth of the United States of America, mankind had followed the ‘big guy’ form of rule.  God told Samuel what it would look like for the Hebrew children and that is what happened. Samuel warned them: A king will draft (enslave) your sons to fight wars.  He will draft YOUR sons to work his fields, harvest his grain, and make his wines.  He will enslave your sons to work as blacksmiths, engineers, mine ores, and create weapons.  He will take your daughters to be cooks, and household servants for him. He will take your best lands, take your best livestock, and tax you on everything you produce.  So it has been, and so it will be for those who trust in the ‘big guy.’  Thomas Jefferson said it best when he said: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground”.   Enslavement (not racial enslavement) is the end result of all governments which seek to centralize control.  The subjugation of people to the strong man’s will is seductive to those who don’t lead a Spirit led life.  Call it laziness or stupidity, even free people will sell themselves for the illusion of safety, and provision.  From the moment Saul became king of Israel, the Hebrew people were defeated, and would eventually be conquered.  The Rule of Man is wicked and those who are the most cruel, eventually end up being killed by someone more wicked and cruel than they were. There isn’t a form of government from the earliest tribal systems to modern day nations that hasn’t had subjugation to the will of the leader as its foundation.  Only our great republic was formed upon the idea that the people COULD govern themselves. Every other form of government from monarchies, socialists, communists, and even theocracies like Islam fail because it is too easy to fall into enslaving others.  

Sadly, even our own country is seeing the slow and merciless march toward enslavement.  Identity politics is self-devouring, and fraught with intersections where one minority's rights are in conflict with another’s.  The journey from city states to huge nations that span oceans is a journey of war, cruelty, and wickedness beyond imagination. I would like to think that Christianity could change that, but only the Church can.  AND, there is a difference between Christianity and the Church.   Real Christianity is the model for nations, and their leaders to go by, but that would mean giving up power, money, and prestige.  These are powerful and seductive forces that only a born again believer can overcome.  Those who profess Christ in word only can’t withstand the seductive pull of the carnal nature.  Yet, this is what Christ came to change.  The church will change it, but it has been and will continue to be a slow process because carnal men and women can pretend to be spiritual.  Without the morality born of the Spirit of God, the world will always be searching for a ‘big guy’ to rule them.  

MESO-AMERICANS, NATIVE PEOPLES, AND TRIBAL EXISTENCE

One of the reasons for this study was to provide you with enough information to discredit the unceasing criticisms of Christianity and western culture in general. One of the tools of Social Justice Warriors is to repeat the lie that western civilization somehow corrupted, and or destroyed noble native cultures in their drive to colonize the world. The lie is compounded when they try to paint these native cultures as somehow being cultures that lived in harmony with nature, and other peoples.  Nah, not so much.  As I’ve said before, the carnal human nature is to kill and that nature finds its expression in all peoples. Because we've already looked at the cruelty of mankind through middle eastern biblical references, I want to point toward the savage behavior of native peoples on continents far removed from ‘white’ people.  This is to counter the progressive narrative that somehow ‘white people’ have the corner on enslavement and cruelty to others.  We’ll begin with what is usually considered to be one of the most peaceful of all cultures, the polynesian culture.

In Polynesian history there is well documented proof of intense ‘pre-contact’ warfare and tribal conflict.  Prestige, land, and resources were often the main reasons for conflict.  Because Polynesian cultures were a people of the water, we don’t have much proof of their sacrificial religious history, but you can be sure it existed. The numerous gods and deities were violent, and when things went bad on an island, human sacrifice often was the only way to appease their gods.Tribes would often raid other islands, but even on the larger islands, many wars were fought with the tribesmen gathering in a clearing and facing each other in a huge circle.  They would often be ‘cheered’ on by their spouses, and their children. When the posturing, and chest beating were over, the battle would wage on till one tribe gained an advantage in numbers. The victors would then chase the losers back to their village, killing wives and children along the way. While we may like the idea of a people who were in tune with nature, respecting the land and ocean, nothing could be further from the truth.  There is a proven history of Polynesian cultures devastating the ecology of their island to the point where they had to flee, or worse yet, be starved to death.  Cannibalism was not uncommon.  Cannibalism can be found in almost all cultures when famine, or sieges happen.  Still, the image of calm peaceful polynesian islanders is a falsehood.  Somehow, humans always find a way to destroy one another and ultimately enslave one another. The carnal nature is always to kill and destroy.

Before I launch out into criticism of Meso-Americans, let me point out that about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago there was a world wide growth in temple building, and an explosion of city state cultures around the world. This happened without any contact with other peoples.  The Ugaritic cultures of the middle east were building walled cities, and establishing trade with Africa, Asia, and Europe, but at the same time the (native?) peoples of the Americas were also building huge structures and cities.  Every one of these cultures were built upon war, conquest, and the enslavement of the people in order to satisfy the whims of a crazy, whacked out, bully (The big guy).  There was no utopian society, Shangri-la, or whatever you want to call a utopian society.  Every group has a carnal nature.

Meso-American’s of South America, and native Americans of North America were warrior peoples who often clashed over territory, and food sources.  Tribal rivalries were a part of everyday life for these people. Yet, somehow, thousands of years later we want to make heroes of these ancient barbaric peoples because they ‘worshipped the earth’, or some aspect of it like fire, sky, water, and earth.  Somehow this makes them more noble than ‘Christians’ who worship the God who created it all.  The ancient peoples were not any more virtuous, or noble than any other culture to this date.  Enslavement, genocide, and torture were very common in native American cultures. People are people!!!  Witness the return to the worship of the earth in modern culture.

The Olmecs, Incans, Mayans, and Aztec peoples were bloodthirsty beyond our imagination.  Throughout Central and South America, there is abundant evidence of human sacrifice, and more specifically child sacrifice. Children were often offered up to appease their gods, or to please some blood lust that is just as alive today as it was then.  AGAIN, I will say that ancient cultures never recognized individual worth. Everything that flowed from their religions, or their cultural life was done for a despotic ruler or priest.  There was no evil you can imagine that was not left undone in ancient peoples.  There was nowhere on this earth where people weren’t killing, or enslaving one another.  There was no people group that was free of the curse of subjugation and it continues to this day in our modern world.

Our modern 'cancel culture' is no different than anything that was done in ancient times to control the freedoms of people.  Witness the current cancel culture in our Universities and throughout modern media.  Today, the focus of hatred isn’t just one race, but is based on skin color.  The modern form of blaming others is to say that caucasians are now the reason for all of the world’s ills.  Which sounds eerily similar to another pre-genocidal movement called fascism.  Enslavement has to remove the danger of dialogue in order to succeed.  Genocide is the natural end to the failure to enslave.  If one person can’t control another, then they will simply kill you.  This is the carnal nature in its purest form.  

In Meso-American cultures, the enemy was often just another ‘city’ away.  In order to appease the gods of their fleshly nature (fears) they had to give a sacrifice.  Conquest could give you an endless supply of sacrifices until you too were conquered and then given as a sacrifice.  There was nothing noble or utopian in ancient American cultures.  Whether they were Incan, Mayan, or Aztec, they all found their expression of the carnal nature in the same enslavement, torture, and murder cycle. It is time to see the truth for what it is.  Native American tribes of North America were warriors who often fought each other over lands, food, and natural resources. This isn’t endemic of ‘white’ culture.  Although ‘white’ people have the same carnal nature in them. The carnal nature exists in all mankind!  There isn’t one race, or ethnicity who can lay claim to a moral high ground.  

There are other cultures that seemingly look to be utopian, but once you remove the veneer of their belief systems you find the same rotting carnal nature.  Buddhism with its shrine of enlightenment is rife with death, enslavement, and tribal cruelty.  Hinduism, with its caste system is the worst kind of enslavement.  It presumes you are born into a caste, and nothing can lift you out of it.  It is just another form of tribalism run amok. Thankfully this system is beginning to lose its power. 

The tribal systems of Australia, Africa, and North Africa have all been part and parcel of the carnal nature to enslave, torture, and murder those who are different than themselves.  Underpinning all of these cruelties is the belief that they were right in doing what they did.  Middle Eastern cultures that produced the history we know from the Bible were also the worst expression of tribalism we know.  

As we go through this study, I hope to show you how the depravity of the carnal nature was manifested, and how God used the Church to lift mankind up from its wickedness into His Kingdom of Grace and Love.  It is not a kingdom based upon conquering, or enslaving people, but upon freeing human beings from their carnal nature.  Sadly, it can be subverted by the carnal nature when wicked men seek to use it for that means.  These people can be spotted easily by their demand that you do what ‘they’ say because they have heard from God, or because they have been given authority by God to rule over you.  In other words, the first sign that something isn’t in line with the gospel is when enslavement to another person occurs.  This is different from ‘submission’ which is a willing offering of yourself to others. True Christianity is unique in that it doesn’t demand anything of anyone else.  The Spirit led nature  wants to give everything to everyone because you know how pleasant it is.  This is the Kingdom of Grace and Love.  It is the object of scorn and ridicule among the fleshly minded.  No other religion in History has made love its guiding principle as Christians have.  I am going to make a very bold statement that will be proven in later lessons.  The purpose of the church was to set men free to love God, others, and yourself with abandon.  We were set loose upon the earth to demolish the strongholds of enslavement, fear, and wickedness to one another.  I can point to how the Church has succeeded, and I can point to how much further we have to go.  In the end, all of mankind will have no excuse when standing before God to give account of themselves.  The lives, and the testimony of the Church will stand in defense of what God has done through the ages.  Now let’s get back to Moses.

The Law of Moses

 I truly hope all of you enjoyed Pastor Colby's lesson on the early Roman Empire.  I've found his knowledge and insight about Roman culture refreshing and informative over the last year.  I hated to bring his study out of sequence, but I'm sure it will come in handy when we begin our study of the book of Romans.  SO, now we'll jump back into the study of the ancient world and the monstrous evils worked by mankind till Christ came on the scene.  

As we move away from the early bronze age into the middle bronze age, we find mankind having moved away from the nomadic, hunter gatherer tribal systems, to a long history of the city states from the beginning of the Egyptian dynasties till the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt. Modern movies, and television try to paint a civilized picture of Egypt under the Pharaohs, but nothing could be further from the truth.  They were a people who used war, violence, and torture to keep control of the fertile land of the Nile valley. You will often hear Egypt referred to as the 'longest running continuous civilization on earth, but it was because of their brutal society, and cruel military.  

Children had no value other than as slaves.  The elite, and religious leaders of the day were the only ones who enjoyed the fruits of the great Nile river.  Women didn't have rights, and were often sexually assaulted even in the midst of their daily duties. The elderly weren't valued and often killed when their usefulness was over.  The city states of Egypt often fought with one another when they weren't conquering other lands.  It was a brutal time.  

Enter Moses!  Well actually it is God using Moses as His mouthpiece.  Once God had freed the Hebrews from Egyptian control, He led them to Mount Sinai, and there he revealed His thoughts on how men should treat one another.  I'm not going to bore all of you with a lengthy recitation about the various laws, but I will tell you that they were unique in all of history up to that point.  At no other time had a deity given insight into how He wanted men to treat one another.  The law can be broken down into three aspects of life. At the forefront of it all was the declaration that God was the only one true God.  That man's greatest purpose could be realized in worshiping Him only.  That worship was to be totally different than their captors, and those around them.  What was unique about the Hebrew people was that God had chosen them from among all people to be 'separate.'   They would be different in their worship in that they would not offer up human sacrifices.  They would not make idols, and that they would come together three times a year to worship God.  The intimate, personal relationship with their creator was unique to them.  This in turn would inform their relationship with one another.  

While Egypt was a confederation of city states, Israel would be a people.  God intended for them to be a 'family.'  As such He didn't create a theocratic government, nor any kind of government at all.  Yet, at the same time the foundation for our American system of justice was laid down.  People of any position in life were granted 'personhood' and had value.  God revealed his displeasure with slavery through numerous laws.  Personal injury was no longer a reason for killing your neighbor.  "An eye for an eye,' was a bold break from the vengeful and cruel killing of someone just because they hit you.  Under God's law, mankind finally saw women being given land, status, and worth beyond sex objects.  Under God's law, children were valued for more than just labor.  God laid out specific lines of inheritance, and established a court system to resolve issues.  Honor killing was taken from the hands of the parents and placed in the hands of the elders of the community.  You could no longer kill your child if they misbehaved.   God established personal boundaries including land ownership.  Even a person's material goods were considered private property.  Slaves were to be freed at the end of seven years, and all debts were to be resolved every fifty years.  Transgenerational ownership of people was forbidden.  This was unique and unheard of among Israel's neighbors.  More than anything, the law of Moses gave each individual the right to lead themselves.  There was no established government.  If you treated one another according to God's law, there would be no need for men to govern you.  This wasn't only unique, but it was a radical break from the current city state systems that surrounded them.  Finally, God's law established how we should treat this earth, and the animals upon it.  The land was to be 'rested' every seven years, and domesticated animals were to be given food while they toiled.  Cruelty to animals was forbidden, and viewed as evil as mistreating another human.  The Ten commandments alone stood as God's revelation of His intent for life with one another.  

The foundation of Christianity was laid in the stones of a rocky desolate land, and in the hearts of a small group of people.  My admiration for the law of Moses is in the birth of human rights.  There was no "big guy" rule where the biggest meanest dude ruled the others.  For nearly 440 years, the people of Israel were governed by a code of conduct given to them by God.  During this time nations began to be larger than the cities of their birth, and peoples arrived from all over the then settled world.  In fear, the people of Israel no longer trusted God to protect them from their enemies. Their own failures had long ago negated the covenant of God.  Each time they returned to their faith, God would rescue them, and inevitably, they would fall into idol worship.  "Give us a king!"  they demanded of the prophet Samuel.  Samuel tried to warn them what would happen once they followed the "big guy" concept of government.  Samuel's words would be proven right immediately.  Every blessing of the rule of God's laws was negated by their desire for a 'king.'   People would once again go from being free, to being owned by someone.   Utopia had slipped quietly away, and no one cried for it.